January 26th, 2012

Crawley Labour councillors make no apologies for having challenged the Conservative’s decision to spend over £1 million on Worth Park.  This was the wrong time to go ahead with this, particularly when they are pressing ahead with privatising Tilgate Park “to save money” (less money, incidentally, than they’re spending on Worth Park).

Tilgate Park is the jewel in Crawley’s crown.  Worth Park, given its remoteness, will never approach Tilgate Park’s importance or popularity.  Yet to improve a minor park, the Tories are ready to begin an unpopular and unnecessary privatisation of Tilgate Park.  This is unfair and wrong.

If you were to ask most residents of Crawley what they’d rather, Worth Park being done up or to stop the privatisation of Tilgate Park, the vast majority would choose Tilgate Park without hesitation.

You only have to look at how many oppose what the council are doing to Tilgate Park – one and a half thousand people have signed up to the “I Oppose the Privatisation of Tilgate Park” Facebook Group.  The Tories arrogantly pretend these people don’t exist, even when the public gallery is packed full of people telling them they’re wrong.   They’re massively out of touch.

We’ve spoken to scores of residents right across Crawley. They told us, almost 100%, that the Worth Park project is a poor use of money.  I say put that council money into Tilgate Park instead.

The Conservatives have pursued a divisive and polarising policy on leisure and parks for the past two years.  They could not have been less inclusive if they’d tried.  Labour councillors not only opposed the money set aside for the Worth Park lottery bid at the time, but the costs to the council then were meant to be much less.  Now they’ve leapt to over a million.

The money the Lottery is giving is almost irrelevant if Crawley taxpayers have to fork out huge amounts to receive it.  Most local councils have bigger priorities in tough economic times than heritage projects, as do we.

At a time the Conservative-led government has slashed the money the Borough Council receives, the Worth Park project is excessive and carried out in the face of widespread public anger to its effect on Tilgate Park.

Thanks to our actions, the decision has been suspended until the council meets at the end of February.  We have no doubts it was the right thing to do.

Michael Jones
Labour councillor for Bewbush